Description
This paper investigates how gender stereotypes shape the portrayal of female jihadist terrorists in print news media across six Western countries: the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Ireland, from 2001 to 2022. Previous studies have highlighted how media framing of women linked to terrorism often relies on unproven and stereotype-driven narratives. Building on this work, this study explores gendered media narratives on a larger scale, comparing portrayals of women to men within jihadist terrorism contexts. Central to the research is an original dataset of 1000+ individuals associated with jihadist terrorism as featured in media reports, incorporating over 50 variables to comprehensively analyse these portrayals. Employing a mixed-methods approach grounded in gender and media studies, the research combines descriptive and advanced quantitative analysis with qualitative media analysis.
Findings reveal that stereotypical traits, such as youthfulness and relationship status, significantly influence media coverage of females. Women fitting traditional gender stereotypes receive more extensive quantity of the coverage, highlighting how deeply gendered narratives shape their representation in media. These results illuminate the restrictive influence of gendered media portrayals on the public perception of female jihadists.
